As its
name suggests this strange flower originated on the
R’unorian Isles in the city of
R’unor itself – which is why it is no surprise
that many of the travelers that have laid eyes on this peculiar plant have
described it as being “utterly bizarre” and “rather clever... in an odd sort of
way”. The main reason for these strange reviews is that the rose itself is said
to act as a proclaimer of truths, with its petals changing colours according to
the moods of the people surrounding it.

Appearance.The R’unorian Rose is actually a shrubbery to allow for maximum
exposure of the feelings, for, as many people know, it is very rare to
experience only one emotion at any given time. In order for the roses to pick up
on the feelings of the person in question, said person must be standing within a
few peds of the flowers. To
minimize confusion, the roses were designed to express only the feelings of one
individual at a time (this means that even though the roses upon a shrub might
change to many different colours, all of the colours on that shrub will express
the feelings of only one person). Rapid changes of heart are not a problem for
the R'unorian Roses, for they have been reported as being incredibly sensitive
and able to change in a rather speedy fashion according to the various changes
in the person's mood.

The roses themselves possess red stamens, a staggering fifty petals per bud,
thornless stems, and a rather fruity scent that becomes stronger or weaker
depending upon the intensity of the emotion(s) felt, or so people say. The shrub
normally only stands one fore high. One rather peculiar trait of the plant is
that, no matter what colour the petals are, they always seem to glow with an
eerie pale red light – an almost perfect replication of the glow seen about the
R’unorian Isles.
The foliage of the shrub is large and slightly rounded with a very faint red
tint to it.

When one first plants a R’unorian Rose bush, it seems almost impossible to keep
alive due to its rather sensitive nature which, oddly enough, tends to go away
once it has successfully survived its first spring. At first, the plant suffers
from a whole array of illnesses including a very nasty mildew and a strange
disease that has only been observed in the R’unorian Rose - a rather ugly bit of
blight that ends up turning the petals a sickly green colour before they finally
rot away in an explosion of noxious fumes resembling an unpleasant mixture of
spoiled milk and eggs that passed the ‘unfresh’ mark weeks before. Once past
their first spring, though, the roses turn out to be rather hardy little plants
that do well both in the ground or in a pot. They can also be coaxed into
climbing, if properly trained.

The R’unorian Rose has little tolerance for the cold, and so, those left outside
to fend on their own during the winter months will eventually die. However, once
spring rolls around again, the roses will bloom on their
own once more in a continuous fashion that will occur every year for quite a
long time.

The roses won’t start picking up the feelings of people
around them until they have fully bloomed. When they are still buds, they will
be of a pale apricot colour with a light silky fuzz covering them. When cut, the
flowers will still retain their ability to express the feelings of those around
them up to an entire day before reverting to their original pale apricot colour
and eventually rot.

Territory.The R’unorian Rose is native to R’unor alone. Though no one has
ever figured out why, there has been very little success in planting the flowers
in the soils of places other than that of the
R’unorian Isles. To find the shrub in any other part of the world would be
extremely rare and a treat (or perhaps a curse, depending on who you asked) to
those in the area. The rose can’t grow in the wild,
having to be well taken care of in its first spring in order to keep it alive.
However, though it can’t be found lurking in the wilderness of
R’unor, it is rather common to find anywhere
from at least one shrub to several dozen populating the gardens and homes of
those people of the R’unorian Isles.

There are rumours, however, that the
Black Butterfly Rovers of
Santharia have found a way to successfully
grow the R'unorian Roses and have been using their
magical properties to con many a common person into believing that they
themselves possess some type of magical powers.
If such a thing were true, the
Rovers might make a more hefty profit by selling the
roses to the citizens of Santharia of
a more wealthy nature, for, there is yet another rumour floating about that to
eat the petals of the R'unorian Rose or to wear a perfume made from the petals
would bring luck to the person in question for an entire year.

Usages.The plant has only one use and one alone: to tell the moods of
those around them. No one is for certain what the various colorus the R'unorian
Roses display actually stand for, though many have speculated upon it. In fact,
the subject has become one of much debate around the dinner tables of many a
R'unorian household. It is commonly accepted,
however, that brighter colours represent brighter feelings while darker colours
represent darker feelings. It is also commonly accepted that to see a black
R'unorian Rose is the worst of luck and could perhaps even be an omen of death.
Even so, many disagree over more specific definitions. For example, some believe
that red stands for feelings of love, while others feel that the colour stands
for feelings of anger. Does a blue flower mean the person is shy? Cold? Lonely?
Sad? Does a yellow flower mean the person is happy? Some people even believe
that the translation of the colours of the R'unorian Roses is an art - a
frustrating art, mind you, but an art nonetheless.

The only negative effect on a race that this little flower has posed is nothing
more than the everyday paranoia of the inhabitants of the
R’unorian Isles becoming magnified –
drastically in some cases. In more recent times, the R’unorians have taken up a
tradition of spreading petals upon the ground at a wedding and allowing the
couple to walk upon them before speaking their vows. To have the petals turn
black at a wedding would be the worst of omens and the ceremony would be called
off immediately. However, due to the costs and intensive planning for such
occasions, the activities of the day (minus the actual marriage) are usually
still enacted with the cake and all other food stuffs being consumed as
originally planned.

However, some have claimed that when an emotion was extremely strong and the
scent of the roses extremely heavy, they found themselves
put under a type of trance which muddled their thoughts and loosened their
tongues, causing them to speak the truth after all. This has never been proven,
though, and should be regarded as nothing more than a rumor until such a time as
the wisest of all scholars have gathered enough information of a genuine nature
and presented their findings to the public.

Reproduction.
R'unorian Roses produce no different than regular kinds of roses, so for more
details in this regard, check out the roses entry.

Myth/Lore.Many believe the R’unorian Rose was actually created by the
sorceress Lotus the Grey during her
time as the archmage of the Imperial Court of
R’unor. The empress at the time, Sara Wormsbane, requested of the sorceress
some device that would allow her to see what the people around her truly were
feeling. As the story goes, Lotus
experimented with many different sorts of objects including stones, rings, and
other such inanimate objects before she finally decided upon the idea of a
flower since flowers, by and large, are considered relatively innocent and would
fail to draw much suspicion upon first glance.